Information Processing Apparatus and Method, and Program Storage Medium

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: an input configured to receive content data; a first storage area configured to store the content data supplied from the input; a second storage area configured to store content data usage conditions for the content data stored in the content data storing means; means for computing a hash value based on a plurality of content data usage conditions for a plurality of different content stored in the second storage area, the content data usage conditions including a date and time the content was first stored in the first storage area; and means for controlling the usage of the content data stored in the first storage area according to a comparison of the hash value made by the computing means and that of a past hash value of the content data usage conditions, which is stored in the first storage area.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the data is music data and the management information includes identification information for identification of the music data.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controlling means permits usage of the context data when the currently computed check value matches a previously computed check value.

4. The information processing apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein means for controlling prohibits copying of content within a predetermined time of the date and time the content was first stored in the first storage area.

5. The information processing apparatus as recited in claim 4 , wherein the predetermined time is any time within a range of 12 to 168 hours.

6. The information processing apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first storage area is within a nonvolatile memory.

7. The information processing apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the means for computing computes a hash value based on all of the content data usage conditions stored in the second storage area.

8. An information processing apparatus comprising: an interface configured to receive input of content data and identification information of the content data; a storage medium configured to store content data supplied via the interface; a first memory configured to hold, as a usage rule file, the identification information of the content data stored in the storage medium; a management program configured to compute a check value with the hash function applied to a plurality of identification information for a plurality of different content stored in the first memory, the identification information including a date and time the content was first stored in the first storage area; a second memory configured to store the result of the computation by the management program; and a controller configured to compare the check value of the computation result stored in the second memory to inhibit, when there is no coincidence between the computation results, copy or move of the content data stored in the storage medium.

9. An information processing method comprising: inputting data; storing the input data; holding content data usage conditions for the stored data; computing a hash value based on a plurality of content data usage conditions for a plurality of different stored data, the content data usage conditions including a date and time the content was first stored in the first storage area; storing the result of the computation; and comparing the result of the hash value with a past hash value result of the content data usage conditions to control the usage of the stored data.

10. A program storage medium having recorded therein a program intended for execution by an information processing apparatus and readable by a computer, the program causing an information apparatus to implement a method, comprising: inputting data; storing the input data; holding content data usage conditions for the stored data; computing a hash value based on a plurality of content data usage conditions for a plurality of different stored data, the content data usage conditions including a date and time the content was first stored in the first storage area; storing the result of the computation; and controlling the usage of the stored data according to a result of a hash value the past computation.

11. An information processing apparatus comprising: a first memory area configured to store data; a second memory area configured to store a usage rule set corresponding to the data stored in the first memory area; means for judging whether or not, when moving the data stored in the first memory area to an other apparatus, the usage rule set for the data stored in the first memory area is capable of being implemented by the other apparatus based on configuration information received from the other apparatus; and means for moving, based on the result of the judgment by the judging means, the data stored in the first memory area to the other apparatus along with the usage rule set corresponding to the data stored in the data storing means, which is held in the second memory area.

12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11 , wherein the usage rule for the data include: a playback limiting condition; a playback accounting condition; or a copy limiting condition.